WebWire

The House last week passed a bill that would cut the Defense Department's
information technology budget by $320 million. The Senate Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, has passed a spending bill that largely mirrors the Bush administration's request.

The Office of Personnel Management last week announced the launch of a new online procedure designed to bring a welcome change to the process of completing security clearance forms. Standard Forms 86 (SF-86) and 86C (SF-86C) are available online for the first time.

Senate appropriators unanimously approved a $29.3 billion spending bill July 10 for the Homeland Security Department, but delayed funding for a controversial airline passenger-profiling system until it is studied.

The Census Bureau hasn't established a time frame for its cloud computing plans, including testing for scalability, security, and privacy protection, as well as determining a budget for cloud services.